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Polk County officials warn proposed federal/state funding changes, new formulas could shrink local public‑safety and road dollars
Summary
Commissioners discussed a potential cut to EMPG funds that would cost Polk County about $87,000, concerns about House Bill 3069 consolidating criminal justice grants, and a rural transportation formula that allocates roughly $5.75 million to rural counties — changes they say could add administrative burden and reduce local control.
Polk County commissioners used part of their May 13 meeting to discuss several state and federal developments county leaders say could affect local public‑safety and road funding.
County officials said a Federal Emergency Management Agency program that passes funds through the Oregon Emergency Management (OEM) — the EMPG emergency management grant — may be cut or restructured. The county speaker said Polk County’s portion of that grant is about $87,000 and that current practice includes the state taking roughly 30% for administration before funds reach counties.
Separately, commissioners discussed House Bill 3069 (referenced by number at the meeting), which one speaker described as consolidating Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) grants into a single process with increased reporting requirements and a larger competitive component. The speaker said only about 25% of future distributions would be formula driven, with the remainder awarded competitively, raising concern about increased administrative burden and reduced local control.
Commissioners also noted a change in the rural county transportation formula discussed at the Association of Oregon Counties: the new formula would consider county road miles and population and would allocate roughly $5.75 million to be shared among rural counties. The speaker said that reallocation could reduce shares for some counties and raised concerns about parity when counties have unequal reserves from past road allocations.
The meeting touched on forestry and wildfire funding: officials said the Oregon Department of Forestry and the State Fire Marshal have requested about $300 million in new firefighting funds, and there was discussion of a proposed timber severance contribution (described in the meeting as a dollar per acre for commercial timber owners) intended to shift some costs to timber owners and rangeland operators.
Commissioners said these legislative and administrative shifts — combined with turnover at state agencies and more competitive grant processes — risk adding reporting requirements, increasing oversight of local programs, and reducing stable, formulaic funding that counties use to pay for local emergency management and public‑safety staffing.
"Whenever I hear that though, it's more reporting, it's more scrutiny, and it changes as the legislature turns over and nothing gets sort of, really streamlined," the county speaker said, arguing for streamlined processes that reduce administrative burden.
The board discussed possible county responses, including asking Association of Oregon Counties staff to lobby for backfill funding or for direct transfers to counties if federal funds are block‑granted to the state. Commissioners also discussed a suggestion from a Coos County commissioner about redistributing a small portion of state income tax back to counties, but they noted significant administrative and political hurdles to such a change.
